So once again I missed the cutoff time to enter the Oscar contest through our newspaper. Ugg.

Well I did enter on two websites so we'll see if I'm lucky on those. Probably not, because they are both very popular.

Here's my picks:

Best Picture--Little Miss Sunshine

Actor--Forest Whitaker

Actress--Helen Mirren

Supporting Actor--Eddie Murphy

Supporting Actress--Jennifer Hudson

Director--Martin Scorsese

Animated Film--Happy Feet

Original Screenplay--Babel

Adapted Screenplay--Borat: Cultural Learnings of American for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Foreign Language--Pan's Labyrinth

Documentary--An Inconvenient Truth

Original Song--"Our Town" from Cars

Cinematography--The Illusionist

Art Direction--Pan's Labyrinth

Visual Effects--Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Costume--Marie Antoinette

Short Documentary--Recycled Life

Film Editing--Blood Diamond

Makeup--Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score--The Queen

Sound Mixing--Dreamgirls

Animated Short--Little Matchgirl

Sound Editing--Blood Diamond

Live Action Short--West Bank Story

Of course, some of these are just out and out guesses. Like Short Doc, Live Action Short, Foreign Language but we'll see.

There was talk that Alan Arkin was getting some hype for Supporting Actor and that Eddie Murphy might not get as many votes because of some movie that was released of him dressed as a big fat woman but I only heard that during the weekend of that release. I still think he'll win.

Also for Director, I've heard Eastwood SHOULD win but since Scorsese has been nominated five times with no wins they'll give it to him.

Then I heard that instead of starting out with Best Actress and Supporting they are pushing that to the end. Ugg I hate when they tinker with stuff.

Liv Tyler: 'I've Been on a Diet my Whole Life'

Liv Tyler says she spent years worrying about her weight – until she became a mom.

"I've been a model and actress since I was 14, so I've been on a diet my whole life," the actress, 29, says in the March issue of Glamour. "But once I gave birth, I didn't want to think about myself or feel insecure about my career; I wanted to think about my child. So I stopped worrying about diets."

Still, the mom of 2-year-old Milo (with husband Royston Langdon, 34) says she recently lost 10 pounds without even trying while filming the thriller The Strangers in South Carolina. Filming was also incredibly intense: We were supposed to be out of breath in every scene, so I would run around the stage to achieve that.

I just went to Marc Jacobs and I bought a red dress in a size 4. I've never been a size 4 in my entire life!"

She also weighs in on the debate over super-thin actresses and models. "I definitely think the girls look too skinny now," she says. "I'm friends with Helena Christensen and Linda Evangelista, and I remember Linda telling me that when she was a model [in the '90s], a sample size was a 6 or an 8. Now a sample dress size is a 0 or a 2. That's pretty alarming. There's a lot of pressure on [the models].

I love Liv Tyler, but I'm not a model or actress and I've been on a diet since I was eleven. Big deal what girl hasn't?

I'm already getting tired of this new trend towards "being happy with your size". Bullshit, the U.S. has more obesity, more diabetics, heart attacks and other diseases all caused by over eating. Detroit is the fattest city in the United States. How many HUGE people do you see on a daily basis? I work with people who are so fat they can't breathe, use wheelchairs or crutches to get around. They redid the parking lot and added MORE handicapped spaces and there still aren't enough.

Of course, Liv's sister was on Celebrity Fit Club. She's a mean, gutter-talking heifer. I'm not sure if she's older or younger but looking at her mess growing up, no wonder Liv was always dieting. I wouldn't want to look like the sister either.

So yeah I like Liv but you aren't different from us regular girls.

Madonna is, of course, my #1 favorite. But probably only because I've liked her since forever. Then Angelina but they are practically tied. And there is only ONE man and that's Joaquin.

I love H&M's new ads. There's another picture but I didn't like it very much so I didn't bother to post it. My favorite here is the corset. I love the slim silhouette. Then I like her hair in the middle one and the crop. Reminds me of the Confessions tour. The last pic is ok but not a favorite.

We used to have a tiny little store called "Little Wishes" at the mall. Probably 28 years ago when I was 10. It had all Hello Kitty and Sanrio stuff. It was so cool. Little tiny pencils, paper, stampers. I loved it.

I found this website yesterday, Hello Kitty Hell. Oh my gosh, this man is funny. His wife LOVES Hello Kitty and she has an eBay store. So evidently she buys stuff for her store but also for herself. I think they lived in the U.S. but are now in Japan. That is the place to be for Kitty stuff. His stories are hilarious.

But he's taught me a bunch already. I'll share: She was born in London, England when her father, George, was on transfer there with his company. Her last name is White. She's 5 apples tall and weighs 3 apples. She has a twin sister Mimmy. Kitty wears her hairbow on the left while Mimmy's is on the right. Her mom's name is Mary.


This is Anthony & Margaret White. Kitty's grandparents.

Here's a link to pictures of mom, dad and Mimmy.

Anna Nicole Smith (November 28, 1967 -- February 8, 2007)

RIP Anna.

Man charged with murder in wife's 140-foot fall at Pictured Rocks
2/6/2007, 5:40 p.m. ET
The Associated Press


MUNISING, Mich. (AP) — A man whose wife fell 140 feet to her death last summer at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was charged Tuesday with killing her.

Thomas Richardson, of McBain, was arraigned in Alger County District Court on an open murder charge and a manslaughter charge, Prosecutor Karen Bahrman said in a statement.

The charges resulted from an investigation involving sheriff's deputies in Alger and Missaukee counties, state police and the FBI, Bahrman said. They determined local authorities had primary jurisdiction and the case would be prosecuted on the county level.

Defense attorney Jason Elmore said Richardson, a delivery trucker, was innocent.

"Tom did not kill his wife," Elmore told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We believe that after a trial, he will be vindicated. There is no physical evidence of any wrongdoing. The case, we expect, will largely be based on rumor and speculation."

Juanita L. Richardson, 43, died June 22 in the plunge about a quarter-mile south of Miners Castle, a popular overlook at the federally protected shoreline on Lake Superior.

Her husband ran to a visitor center to report her fall. Her body was found face down and barefoot at the base of a 140-foot-high cliff.

Juanita Richardon, a school athletic department secretary, was the mother of three adult children.

Police used a search warrant to confiscate computers from the Richardson home. They have said Thomas Richardson's inconsistent accounts of what happened led them to investigate the death as a homicide rather than an accident.

Richardson initially told police he did not see his wife fall, having left the place on the cliff the couple reportedly referred to as their "honeymoon spot" to relieve himself, The Mining Journal of Marquette reported. He said he did not hear any screams, the newspaper said.

UPDATE: A man accused of pushing his wife to her death from a cliff at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was expecting her to seek a divorce and had been having an affair, according to a police affidavit.
The document, filed in Alger County District Court, says Thomas David Richardson killed Juanita L. Richardson to cash in on a life insurance policy and gain freedom to pursue his illicit relationship.

This sounded fishy from the get. What is up with these men murdering their wives? Why not just leave?

Some one had a People magazine at work with a murdered wife who was pregnant. No official suspects. No sign of forced entry. Money problems. Beaten to death. You know the husband did it.

Entwistle hasn't gone to trial yet. It'll probably be a bit before this joker goes to trial. Weird. I should look up what's going on with Lori Hacking's (?) husband. I think that's the name.

Makes you not even want to date.

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow yesterday so we should have an early Spring. Yippee!!!

The last time Phil didn’t see his shadow was 1999.

According to German folklore, if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on the holiday of Candlemas (February 2) winter would last another six weeks. No shadow means Spring would come early.

In Howell, Michigan Woody the Woodchuck also predicted Spring is coming soon. If Woody comes out of her shelter and goes right back in, Winter will hang around. This year she came out for 30 seconds indicating an early Spring. She’s correctly predicted the season changing 6 out of the last 8 years.

Either way for right now, temperatures in Michigan are at or below zero at night and barely reaching double digits through the day.

Candlemas—February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the wheel of the year. If falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring Equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of Spring.

Since Candlemas is a time of new beginnings, this is a good day to ritually celebrate all things new. Plan a ceremony to name a new baby, officially welcome a new person into a family or plight your troth to your beloved. (wtf?) Make a commitment to a goal. (Yeah that’s going to happen); this would be an especially powerful thing to do in a group. (or coven)